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Experiences of social work students on placements in residential aged care facilities: a scoping review
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Experiences of social work students on placements in residential aged care facilities: a scoping review

Barbara Adonteng-Kissi, Jiayu Wang, Luyao Zong, Mpumelelo Linda and Pengpeng Li
Social work education, Vol.First online
20/03/2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2026.2646935
Appears in  Recent Faculty of Health Publications
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Published (Version of record) Open CC BY V4.0

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Abstract

social work education student placements residential aged care facilities aged care work force placement barriers professional identity
Aged care social workers are essential in promoting wellbeing, social justice, and human rights for older adults, yet there is a shortage of social workers with specialized aged care training. Population aging is a global issue creating growing demands for high-quality aged care services. Bridging the gap between social work education and aged care service requires collaboration between the universities and aged care service providers. This scoping review aims to map evidence on the experiences of, and barriers to, social work student placements in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). Guided by Arksey and O'Malley and PRISMA-ESR, EBSCOHost, Taylor Francis, Willey Online and Informit databases were searched. Six articles focused on social work students, placements, RACFs and written in English were included. Findings show early exposure to working with older people, a shift in understanding of care needs and availability of interprofessional collaboration contributed to transformative placement experience in RACFs. However, appropriate staffing requirement, the social work aged care curriculum, willingness to host placements and short-term engagement with older people were revealed as barriers. The findings highlight the need to strengthen connections between social work education and practice to improve student learning outcomes and address workforce shortages in aged care.

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